Members of NYU’s adjunct faculty union discussed ways to push back against the recent uptick in cancellations of their courses at a Monday town hall, one month after the group brought its concerns over the trend to administrators.   

The meeting — which saw 35 adjunct faculty members attend both in person and over Zoom —  kicked off with representatives from the NYU Adjunct Union urging members to rigorously monitor the abrupt cancellations of their summer courses and document any relevant changes with screenshots of Albert. They also encouraged attendees to draw attention to any suspicious or “dodgy” class cancellations so the organizing team can track course cancellation patterns and file grievances accordingly. 

David Palmer, who chairs the union ACT-UAW Local 7902, said that course cancellations have made adjunct faculty members’ work increasingly unstable, even as the union’s recent contracts with NYU have raised pay rates overall. 

“We made a big gain in our contract, but if you can’t teach a course, you’re not getting paid for it — that raise doesn’t mean anything,” Palmer said in an interview with WSN. “That is something that we are increasingly concerned about, as there’s been more and more course cancellations that have occurred over the last four years.”

Earlier this month, the adjunct faculty union raised “urgent concerns” to administrators that their members’ courses have seen disproportionately high cancellation rates this academic year. The group claimed that course cancellations can jeopardize instructors’ benefits and greatly reduce their compensation, as well as leave students to navigate overenrolled classes. At Monday’s town hall, adjunct faculty said that they have filed multiple requests for information grievances with the university after experiencing changes to their courses, but received no response. 

SPS adjunct instructor and union representative Robert Ausch also said that, according to their contracts, adjunct faculty members should be cautious of departments claiming curriculum change to avoid course load reduction payments — saying that the contract clearly outlines what does and does not count as curriculum change. Instructors typically receive reappointment letters detailing their teaching assignments for the upcoming academic year by May 21. Mêlisa Annis, a Tisch adjunct instructor, said that by late May, administrators should be able to gauge if courses will meet the 50% enrollment threshold needed to guarantee if they will take place.  

Monday’s discussion highlighted broader structural concerns, including how shifts from required courses to electives, fluctuations in international student enrollment and recent federal funding pressures led some faculty to take on unpaid work and impacted course offerings. 

“Why do adjuncts teach 48% of the courses at NYU? Because we have historically been less expensive and more flexible — which is the same disposable tool of labor,” Gallatin adjunct faculty member Charles Gelman said at the event. “We’ve made progress in our contract and become more difficult to replace, but we are still easier to get rid of than other faculty.” 

Contact Justin Yen at [email protected].